100 Crazy Things My People Believe Are Real (Part 1 of 3)

And: My people are a real Minority, based on Cultural Factors

     After living on the planet for the better part of fifty years, and following and believing, and for the most part trying to practice the faith of my religious denomination, I think I have earned the right or privilege of saying that these people who belong to it are "my" people. I belong to them, in many ways, and they belong to me. I am still my own person, of course, but I am also part of a community that I identify with by belief and custom, therefore I am part of a people, distinct from others. We are a religious minority of believers, which most religious people are, but there are factors that make us unique and peculiar. While people have argued that I am not part of a "minority", like a racial or ethnic one, I certainly have felt that by speech, lifestyle, preferences, and underlying values that I am as much a minority as those that have different skin colors, ethnic backgrounds, unique identity orientations, and such external factors that set people apart, because the things that I wind up saying, doing and believing, i.e. actions and behaviors, are as much a part of my identity and persona as anything else that the external or other cultural factors or preferences or strong factors that make other people who they are as people their respective distinctive minority statuses. You may not see me as different when you see me drive by, or give a presentation, but over time you will note that I am different than others, and therefore my people are unique. 

    I will not participate in the alcoholic toast at the company party, but I might hoist my water or juice, nor will I share beers at the weekend game or get together; I will be the one opting for hot chocolate rather than coffee for the early morning coffee run, declining the fresh coffee from the large breakfast box that someone was kind enough to bring. There are these dietary and consumption differences, yes. But there are more differences that make me and my people different. I will be the one trying to avoid the overtly sexual and dirty jokes, or the "adult" entertainment proffered at social or even some professional occasions. I will be the one declining invitations for Sunday brunches or picnics or games, because Sunday is different for us. We do Church and family stuff on most Sundays, avoiding most "normal day", i.e. Monday through Saturday activities. I am the one who does not throw out the course or crude, or, to many people normal language of the street and film of the 21th century. There are other practical differences among active members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but most have to do with beliefs and doctrine, therefore:

1. Which comes first, God or human institution? Chicken or egg? We must go with in the beginning starting with God, the Father.  

 

We believe that God is our Father, the Creator of our spirits, that we as individuals have existed for untold eternities, and we have known each other before this life.

2. We believe that God is Omniscient, Omnipotent, all loving and just. He wants us to live with Him and follow His commands.

3. We believe that God the Father has a wife, and she is our Heavenly Mother.

4. We believe that God, the Omnipotent and All-loving Sovereign of the Universe, (as do most Christian faiths), sent His Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to be our Savior.

5. We believe that Adam and Eve were our first parents, and that they needed to fall from a type of innocent grace, as they transgressed (disobeyed a command of God), in order for the human family to begin, and our God-created spirits to fill the Earth.

6. We believe that Adam became a witness and prophet of God, and that a birthright and inheritance of priesthood power from God and Jesus were imbued into him and his posterity, and that includes us today, some six thousand years later.

7. We believe that this continuity of priesthood and authority among God's children has had interruptions and difficulties over the centuries and millennia, therefore there has been necessities to restore it at times, which explains Joseph Smith, Jr.

 

8. We believe that Joseph Smith, born in 1805 in Vermont in the early United States, was a Chosen prophet of God, like many prophets before Him and a few since. His name was prophesied in an ancient record that He translated.

9. Joseph Smith was given works to do by God and Jesus, as some prophets of old were directed and inspired; He wanted to know what Church was true as a young man, if there was one Christian denomination that embodied what the Bible referred to singularly.

10. Smith helped restore what what we believe is the Restored priesthoods of God, namely the Aaronic and Melchizedek. Worthy men, including minors, are permitted to wield these priesthood authorities. These roles are generally unpaid. Also, somewhat not shared or spoken enough, all worthy women and children share the priesthood powers and authorities through the holy temples. (I will get to temples more in part 2, hopefully.)

11. The Book of Mormon, the Pearl of Great Price, and the more modern Doctrine and Covenants became additional canon to the Bible in this newly restored God mandated restored Church of Jesus, the Son of God directed faith, reconstituted in the United States but meant as a global faith  to all the world.

12. We believe that Joseph Smith, Junior, had revelations that reconstituted ancient truths that had been forgotten, abolished, or neglected since ancient times, which existed to bless people and bring us children closer to Him. Some of those truths included washing and anointing, receiving covenants called endowments in the temple, and being sealing to spouses and family in the altars of the holy temple.

13. We believe that the people of God need to follow God's commands individually, but that collectively we need to sacrifice and pull together in order to be happy, overcome, and fulfill God's plans, which is all built for us to prosper and bless others.

14. We believe that Smith instituted polygamy as a practice among some men and women in the early days of the Church, in the last years of life before he was killed by a mob while jailed in Carthage, Missouri.

15. We believe that the priesthood leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who subsequent to the martyrdom of the Prophet and his brother Hyrum in 1844 lead the persecuted faith for three years before the next Prophet came along, are made up as Jesus assigned, with a Quorum of Twelve apostles. They have been a consistent body of holy appointed special witnesses of Jesus and His Church, which we believe is chosen of God, since the 1830s.

16. We believe that the Church of Jesus Christ should be lead by priesthood leaders, starting with a Prophet of God who presides over the whole Church across the earth, and that a major part of the priesthood of God is to be married to a woman in the temple of God, sealing oneself and their children to her as a divine and pure mother in the patriarchal priesthood, all sanctioned by God.

17. We believe that marriage between a man and a woman is one of the holiest and highest sacraments attainable, and having and raising children righteously is one of the largest mandates and responsibilities given to us by our Heavenly Father.

18. We believe that we should regularly attend Church and meet together as Saints, co-followers of Christ, and the most important part of the Sunday meetings and classes is the holy supper that we refer to as sacrament, where we renew our covenants of baptism and we repent and receive foregiveness of our sins.

19. We believe that we should be baptized at the proper age of  accountability by a person who wields the proper authority of God to do so, like John the Baptist. This covenant and ordinance of baptism signifies that we are committed to follow Jesus and His teachings through thick and thin, and that we are to become members of His fold. We become brothers and sisters more officially and formally to each other, since we have chosen to become part of the family of Jesus Christ.

20. We believe that soon after baptism we are to be confirmed members of the Church of Jesus Christ and receive the Holy Ghost, the guidance and inspiration for all members of His Church.

 

21. We believe that members of the church, old and young, should teach each other from the holy scriptures, should come together in groups and quorums and families and specially assigned missionary lessons and commissions, which hearkens to the New Testament Commission of the Savior Himself.

22. As a German Air Force officer once told me as I explained to him many of the commands and rules of my faith, "You have many rules!". Yes, Mike, we do.

 

23. We believe that it was revealed to our prophets by God that certain drugs and chemicals are not meant to be ingested or consumed by us for everyday or recreational use. They include some products and drugs that are common to many of the general public are good and fine, like alcohol, caffeinated coffees and teas, and marijuana. The ones more agreed as taboo in the 21st century are tobacco and harder illicit drugs. From slighter to heavier chemicals, this Word of Wisdom health law is a cultural delimiter for most active Latter-day Saints.

24. We believe that God will bless us physically and spiritually for following His laws, which include laws about sexuality and morals, known as the Law of Chastity, and other vital laws of how we think, behave, and act in Godly proscribed ways. Marriage is the ultimate goal of being like God, and we need to respect the laws of family and the divine power of procreation.

25. We have in Church doctrine that plural marriage is a part of God's plan on earth and heaven for some men and women; the practice was done away with in 1890 until now, 130 years later. I personally find it very ironic that in the 21st century, by and large, the practicing members of the Church of Jesus Christ practice the most celibacy, or have one intimate married partner status more often, compared to most other American demographic cohorts. This comparison may be hard to prove, but there are surveys taken on how many partners people have in life which favor the LDS. In other words, regular Americans who are not living religious principles of intimacy end up having plural partners a lot more than the average church goer, or in specific members of the Church of Jesus Christ, aka Mormons. (The ones many modern plural partners accuse Mormons of polygamy historically, an evil practice in many of their eyes ever since the 1800s). We believe God intended one man for one woman, and we try to live that way more than most, if I may be so blunt.

26. Again, God will bless and curse us for our good sexual choices or to maintain chastity or commit sins against His Law of Chastity; these laws are very serious, to include how we speak, to include fowl language and humor of a sexual nature and disrespecting our bodies and the purity of them in word and deed.

27. We believe that cursing and using strong or "adult" language is offensive to God and His children. I have broken down cuss words into four categories: each has its own type of offense, all ultimately insulting God and His creations. A) Swear words invoking God and holy things are profane and break the first of the ten commandments, B) curse words using sexually explicit language demeans ourselves and our own purity of body, C) dirty words referring to bodily functions and crass references to body parts are offensive towards disrespecting our natural bodies, and D) racial epithets and gender-based slurs are offensive to who we are ethnically and biologically.

28. We believe that the way we think and speak makes a difference to God and each other. Actions are derived from much of the former, so we actively try to avoid the profane, lewd, and bigoted speech that is openly available in all forms of entertainment and communication.

29. We believe in following the Ten Commandments, the ones given to Moses on Mount Sinai as recounted in the Book of Exodus in the Old Testament, which are encapsulated in the Great Two Commandments of the New Testament: Love God and Love Your Neighbor. Love is at the heart of the matter, but there are nuts and bolts of keeping the commandments that are specific and valuable, like not coveting, lying, stealing, committing adultery...

30. We believe in believing and caring, in loving and giving and sharing, and repenting and redeeming. Much of it lies in the heart and mind, as faith, but more of it is demonstrated in the acts and outward postures of worship and reverence.

More on that in the next installment.